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Dear Mercedeez:
You probably know that Ziggy Stardust was actually an imaginary character portrayed by the great late musical performer David Bowie. I can understand why your mom was a fan. Our dog’s name was short for Zig-Zag, which really did describe the way he walked. I think he had experienced a hip injury before he found and adopted us. He was a little terrier-poodle mix, I think.
Regarding the "same but different" idea, I like to explain it like this: "We are all unique, just like everyone else."
How I became interested in plants is sort of a long story, but it starts with failure. When we were young (when I was a professional musician, and when I did not have a gig for a couple of weeks) my wife showed up one day with a big brown paper bag full of vegetable seeds she’d bought at the discount surplus store. She said she wanted a garden. I thought, how hard can it be? (Jeremy should get a laugh out of that.) So, I borrowed a rototiller from her uncle and tilled up a big wild area in the back of my mother-in-law’s place and planted row after row of lettuce, spinach, broccoli, beans, corn, carrots, etc. Mind you, it was mid-June in Southern California, so it turned out to be a hot, difficult 2 d of work … and nothing but the beans and corn came up, and the little bean plants were eaten to the ground within two days. While the corn grew well enough, there were almost no kernels on the cobs in the end. I was young, but not so dumb to realize what was wrong: I was ignorant about how to grow plants.
So, I decided to study up and try again. I learned that broccoli, lettuce, and spinach seeds won’t even germinate in hot soil, and wouldn’t grow well if they had. I learned that old seeds are often dead (check the date on the seed package); seeds are baby plants, and can’t wait forever. I learned that corn is wind pollinated, so you have to plant it in a block rather than a long straight row crossways to the wind, as I had. And I learned that some of the worst pests that live in wild fields in arid areas like S. Calif. only come out at night - and they love to eat young bean plants and corn silk. I discovered that plants are sophisticated, interesting organisms, and it takes a lot of knowledge to be successful at something like gardening, landscaping, and especially agriculture. But what really hooked me was the fact that plants are weird and wonderful, existentially important to our survival, and just plain cool.
Best wishes, Dr. Dan
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Dan's story is simple but compelling, for students and scientists I'd think. We've all experienced failure, and Dan shows an optimistic path forward through learning and science. He conveys a few facts that are both easy to understand and hint at many different intriguing parts of plant science. The kids in this group have a lot of experience with agriculture too, so they probably get a laugh out of this SoCal experience and bad gardening! But many other students may marvel at the small revelations here, that seeds are baby plants that can't wait forever (perfect for seed project groups!) and some plants are pollinated differently so you just plant them in blocks. As always Dan is experienced and shines connection out through these posts!
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Testimonials
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- PlantingScience Teacher
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